


Better Things

by liar_iago



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 03:30:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3103868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liar_iago/pseuds/liar_iago
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On days like these, they can afford to put aside their regular struggles and grievances for a few hours in favor of better things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Things

**Author's Note:**

> i would like to dedicate this fic to sam...whose love for the karasuno first years surpasses even mine...i hope there will be many more first year fics for you to read in the months to come, but in the meantime here is this one that i wrote <3

The hardest part of any get-together that involves more than two people is finding a day that works for everyone, and in the end there’s always that one person who turns out unable to make the date that _everybody_ had agreed on in the first place and the whole process has to be started over again.

The first weekend, Hinata and Kageyama end up in supplementary classes after failing their exams yet again. They insist that everyone else watch the movie without them and Tsukishima's first reaction is to agree, but Yachi and Yamaguchi are adamant that they must watch it together or there will be no point.

-:-

The weekend after that, Yamaguchi gets dragged into some family event that he can't get out of no matter how hard he tries to bargain with his parents. He apologizes and suggests that maybe they should just watch the movie without him, as if he's already forgotten what he said last week, and Tsukishima just shakes his head and says _We'll go next week._

-:-

As fate would have it, Yachi has a date with Kiyoko that she'd forgotten about until the day before their twice-rescheduled meetup. She knows everyone is tired of hearing _go on without me_ at this point, so all she can do is apologize profusely and ask them to change the date yet again.

-:-

On a warm Saturday morning of the fourth weekend, Akiteru pokes his head into Tsukishima's bedroom.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Depends."

"Well, do you think you could go pick something up for me at the post office? Mom's got me doing chores, so..."

"Does it have to be picked up today?"

"Not really."

"Then I'll pass."

Akiteru's eyebrows go up. "Are you busy today?"

"I have plans, yes," replies Tsukishima. In fact, he's currently in the middle of texting the others to let them know that he can, in fact, make today's meetup and he doesn't plan on amending his promise now that he's confirmed Akiteru's favor isn't a matter of life or death.

"With Tadashi-kun?"

"Basically."

"You could invite him to go along with you. I'm sure he wouldn't mind the change in plans."

"There are others," said Tsukishima. "It would be rude to cancel on them."

“Other friends?” says Akiteru with a baffled smile that immediately sets Tsukishima on the defensive.

"Is that so hard to believe?" Tsukishima snaps.

"No, no,” says Akiteru quickly. “You’re talking about your teammates in the volleyball club, right? It’s great that you’re hanging out with them!"

"Can you please not treat me like I'm some kind of recluse?"

"Well, you can just forget about what I said. I'll handle it and let you go see your friends. Have fun!"

Akiteru closes the door behind him as he leaves, but Tsukishima can still hear him murmuring to himself in excitement.

"Unbelievable," Tsukishima says under his breath as he goes back to texting the others.

-:-

Tsukishima is the second one to arrive at the movie theater after Yachi, whom he spots sitting on the curb with a whimsical smile on her face.

"Hey," he says, taking a seat next to her.

"Hi!" she gasps, beaming. She shifts slightly, as if she's about to hug him, but seems to hold back at the last second.

Tsukishima is not big on hugs (or any sort of physical contact in general, really), but he doesn't want her to take it personally, so he reaches around and places his hand briefly on her shoulder in an awkward sort of half-hug. It's more than a little embarrassing, but Tsukishima won’t be able to live with himself if he lets Yachi go home today thinking he doesn’t like her enough to spare her a simple friendly gesture.

If possible, Yachi's smile grows even bigger.

“How have you been?” she says, looking at him like she’s been waiting to know all week.

“Same as usual,” replies Tsukishima. “How was your date with Kiyoko-san?”

"Ah--" Yachi turns red as a tomato at that, and her voice grows small. "It was...nice."

Tsukishima can’t help the little smile that crosses his lips, but before he can reply, the unmistakable shrill of Hinata’s voice fills the air around them.

“Hey, guys!”

“Hinata!” Yachi jumps to her feet just in time to get bowled over by Hinata’s tackling hug, and they stumble about in each other’s arms for a few moments, giggling like grade school students, before separating.

“Yo, Tsukishima!” says Hinata, thumping Tsukishima on the back hard enough to knock his glasses askew.

“Where’s your not-much-better half?” Tsukishima replies while adjusting his glasses, infinitely grateful that Hinata did not try to hug him.

As if on cue, Kageyama ambles up the sidewalk along with Yamaguchi, chatting happily with him. Well--Kageyama is scowling mildly, but by now they’ve all come to learn that that is a very different expression from when he’s scowling _intensely._

Yamaguchi sees them first, and he lifts a hand in greeting while giving them his typical bent smile.

“You guys are early,” says Kageyama.

“You’re just late,” corrects Hinata before dodging a jab to the side from Kageyama.

“Sorry, did we keep you waiting?” says Yamaguchi, ever the apologetic.

“Don’t worry about it,” says Tsukishima, and they all head into the theater.

The movie isn’t anything special, just a family animated movie. They tend to shy away from watching action movies in the theater because they get Hinata riled up, which makes him loud, and the first and last time they all watched a horror movie together both Kageyama and Yachi spent the entire movie with their eyes shut and their ears plugged.

It’s still nice, though, just getting the chance to spend the day together with everyone. Before he came to Karasuno, Tsukishima wasn’t in the habit of going on outings with large groups. For a long time, it was really just him and Yamaguchi. It wasn’t lonely, but this is good too, and if Tsukishima murmurs once or twice at Hinata to keep it down or rolls his eyes when Yachi tears up, it’s not because he isn’t having fun.

-:-

They sit down at a little sushi place for a late lunch and chat about important things like classes and volleyball and some other things that aren't quite as important but still worth talking about because it makes them laugh.

It's not yet dark out when they leave the sushi restaurant, so they decide that there's still time for them to hang out for a while at the nearby park they’ve been frequenting lately. There are probably better things for them to do than loiter in the playground like a bunch of delinquents, but they haven’t been able to come up with any such things so far, and perhaps there’s something about the smallness of the park, tucked away in relative isolation from the rest of the town, that comforts them for reasons they can’t quite explain.

Hinata makes a beeline for the swings as soon as he spots them, and no one comments when he has to jump a little to get onto one of them.

"Kageyama!" he calls, feet dangling just a fraction of an inch above the scraped-out dirt ground. "Give me a push, would you?"

"I'm not your mom, dumbass! Do it yourself,” snaps Kageyama even as he makes his way towards the swingset.

"Ooh, me too!” Yachi plops herself down onto the swing next to Hinata, although her face falls at the inevitable reminder that she can't reach the ground any better than he can. 

“I’ll push you,” Yamaguchi offers before she gets further discouraged, and within moments Yachi and Hinata are racing to see who can swing higher, cheering their partners on and laughing in delight.

Tsukishima quietly takes a seat in the third swing, kicks off gently, and watches his friends.

Currently, Yachi is in the lead, swinging high enough that Tsukishima can see her gripping the chains tightly to keep from falling off on every upswing. She’s wearing a simple blouse and a pair of jeans, which might have been a deliberate decision on her part. The first time they’d all come to the park together, her skirt had fluttered up while she was on the swings and it had taken the boys nearly twenty minutes to coax her out from underneath the slide with repeated reassurances that they had seen nothing--which they really hadn’t, seeing as no one besides her had really been paying attention.

Lately, Yachi has been making a visible effort not to let her overactive imagination get to her so often, and Tsukishima has come to find her determination rather endearing.

Meanwhile, Kageyama can’t seem to push Hinata in a straight line.

“It’s slowing me down!” Hinata is complaining.

“Then push yourself!”

“I _can’t_ , you dingus!”

“You guys,” sighs Yamaguchi.

“Maybe someone else could push you, Hinata,” suggests Yachi.

“Like who, Jerk-ishima?”

Yamaguchi snorts at that, and Tsukishima rolls his eyes.

“Good one,” he deadpans.

“Either way, I quit,” huffs Kageyama, crossing his arms.

“What? You can’t just leave me hanging!” says Hinata, kicking his feet uselessly. When Kageyama doesn’t budge, he turns to Tsukishima, who’s ready for him.

“Nah.”

“What? Come on!”

“And what do I stand to gain from pushing you?”

Hinata hesitates. “My eternal gratitude?”

Tsukishima raises an eyebrow, and Hinata scowls.

“Fine. I’ll buy you a strawberry shortcake.”

When Tsukishima remains silent and unimpressed, Hinata sighs in resignation.

“Okay, three strawberry shortcakes.”

“Deal,” agrees Tsukishima, lifting himself out of his seat.

Heat radiates from Hinata’s back in spite of the cold evening weather that’s started creeping onto the playground, but Tsukishima isn't surprised--Hinata is basically a human furnace. He read somewhere once that smaller people tend to lose heat faster while larger people are more suited to retaining it, which was fishy from the start seeing as his own hands are always cold, but since meeting Hinata he’s been slowly gathering evidence to support a theory he's formed that the guy might actually be powered by a small sun, which not only explains where he gets all of his energy from, but also why Tsukishima has caught his teammates on multiple occasions staring at him like he is literally shining.

“ _Really?_ ” says Hinata when he receives a half-hearted shove. “I promised you three strawberry shortcakes!”

“I said I would push you,” says Tsukishima. “Didn’t say anything about how well I would do it.”

“Tsukki,” says Yamaguchi in a quiet but firm voice. It’s a tone he’s developed and perfected over the years since middle school, a subtle warning for when Tsukishima comes close to crossing the line between “teasing” and “actual jerk.” He doesn’t use it as much as he used to, but Tsukishima isn’t an expert yet at keeping track of people like Hinata whose lines are always moving, and he won’t admit it out loud but he’s always admired how Yamaguchi can read people in ways he can’t.

“Make them Pastry Boutique cakes and I’ll help you win this stupid kiddie race,” Tsukishima amends.

“Hey! This race is a matter of pride!” says Hinata, but when the next push sends him flying past Yachi, all protests cease and he’s back to guffawing his head off. “Bet it sucks not being on the winning team, huh, Kageyama?”

“Whatever, dumbass,” is Kageyama’s scathing comeback.

“I think,” Yamaguchi begins after a few minutes of Hinata cackling and Kageyama grouching, “my arms are getting a little tired.”

As expected, Yachi’s jaw drops like she’s just realized she’s committed a terrible crime. “I’m so sorry! I’m heavy, aren’t I?”

“Oh, it’s not that,” Yamaguchi assures her, and then Kageyama is nudging him out of the way before he can say anything else.

“Prepare to eat your words, Idiot Hinata!”

Ultimately, the “race” ends in a draw: Tsukishima and Kageyama can only push their partners so high until Hinata and Yachi come dangerously close to falling backwards off their swings. Tired, cold, and dazed in a weird, giddy sort of way, the five friends begin the trek home.

Hinata and Kageyama spend the first few minutes of the walk grousing about the draw, but Yamaguchi manages to quiet them down soon enough by treating everyone to some snacks from a street vendor, and a light, comfortable silence falls over the group after that as they wind down from their long day.

They hit Yachi’s house first, sending her off with pats on the head (her fondness for them may be something she picked up from Hinata) and promises to text her the next time they arrange something, not that they would ever consider leaving her out.

Their next stop is Kageyama’s house, and he mutters a goodbye and a rushed _I had fun_ before disappearing through his door like a blushing schoolgirl.

Hinata’s little sister Natsu is waiting for him on the doorstep when they arrive at his place. She’s bundled up in blankets and holding a half-finished mug of hot chocolate, which she immediately offers to them. Yamaguchi, who doesn’t have the heart to refuse her, stutters out a thanks and takes a tiny sip, which absolutely delights her, and Tsukishima can’t help but ruffle her hair a little before they head out.

“It’s been a while since we all got to hang out together,” says Yamaguchi as they turn onto the street where he lives. “It was nice.”

Tsukishima nods in agreement, which earns him a long silence on Yamaguchi’s part.

“What?” Tsukishima finally says when they stop in front of Yamaguchi’s house. He keeps his voice even, trying to ignore the vague sense of anxiety bubbling its way up his gut. The last time Yamaguchi went quiet like this was at the summer training camp in Tokyo, immediately before he proceeded to absolutely ream Tsukishima out about his (admittedly) shitty behavior.

This time, though, Yamaguchi just gives him a tiny smile and says, “Nothing,” before wishing him a good night and closing the door gently in his face.

That night, Tsukishima finds several messages waiting for him after he comes out of the shower.

 _ramen sept 24??????_ reads the first text of the group thread, sent by Hinata. _there’s a new place opening in town._

 _im free on that day!!_ is Yachi’s reply. Tsukishima tries to feels irritated by the five smiling emoticons that follow and fails.

 _I can probably make it_ , Yamaguchi contributes, while Kageyama has yet to respond.

Tsukishima sighs because September 24 is three weeks away and there’s a good chance that something will come up to stop at least one of them from making it, and this is why planning meetups with a group as large as theirs is such a _pain,_ but still he finds himself checking his calendar and picking his phone back up a second later to send his reply.

_sounds good._

**Author's Note:**

> it is currently 4:21 am. i will likely be back to edit this piece later on. in the meantime, please point out any mistakes i might have made and i hope you enjoyed the story. ;;


End file.
